Client Violence Aided and Abetted by Stigma Against Sex Work
Amanda Brooks & Jill Brenneman | September 11 | 9:00 - 10:00 AM | Room Ingman
6/12: client severely injured Amanda and Jill due to extreme negligence as a private pilot, and also raped Amanda twice while recovering from a broken neck and brain bleed.
7/12: Client has: paid representatives to send death threats to Jill via email and voicemails; paid men to assault Jill on three separate occasions; hired hackers who committed credit card fraud and identify theft against Jill and threated legal actions.
4/14: Final attacks were extremely violent and medical complications from those attacks have created a terminal blood-clotting disorder. Jill also suffers brain damage from the repeated head injuries.
The first attack was not reported to the police. The last two attacks and credit card fraud were reported to the police, who did not investigate and “lost” the incident reports.
Jill does not have a criminal record of prostitution, but has been reported to police as a prostitute and suffered police harassment ever since and therefore chooses not to report.
The stigma of sex work has prevented the women from being able to access legal aid, justice, proper medical care, and both are vulnerable to stalking, threats, and violence. They no longer live in the US for safety concerns.
The client, as an attorney, can play the system with impunity. As sex workers, the women have been disbelieved, questioned, and scrutinized.
Objectives:
Listen to sex workers when they talk about any violence they experience. Violence can happen to any sex worker, even if they're a fully-consenting sex worker.
Identify resources or lack thereof for sex workers.
Understand why sex workers are reluctant to go to the police.
How the criminalization of sex work allows this to happen.
Violence has a profound impact on a sex worker's life because the stigma of sex work overshadows the real violence done to them.